Tag: worker’s rights

Last chance to RSVP for tomorrow’s Crucial Conversation

September 26, 2012 at 10:03 amCategory:Uncategorized

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Some seats still remain for tomorrow’s NC Policy Watch Crucial Conversation luncheon with national workers’ rights leader Kim Bobo.

Bobo helped coin the phrase “wage theft” for employer practices that are robbing earned income from millions of Americans and her book Wage Theft in America helped place the issue on the national radar.

Don’t miss the chance to hear from this extraordinary leader.

Click here for more information and to RSVP.

New report documents wage theft in North Carolina

September 25, 2012 at 11:11 amCategory:Uncategorized

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A new report from the N.C. Justice Center and the UNC Immigration/Human Rights Policy Clinic explores the stories of 10 typical North Carolina workers who have experienced what appears to be a growing trend in our state: wage theft (i.e. an employer’s underpayment or nonpayment of wages to workers who have earned those wages).

“While each worker’s story is unique, common themes emerged from the interviews,” said Sabine Schoenbach, a Policy Analyst with the Workers’ Rights Project at the NC Justice Center and co-author of the report. “For all participants, wage theft created economic uncertainty, and even small wage violations had significant financial consequences. Moreover, serious barriers to redress, including the threat of retaliation, existed.”

You can read the release that accompanied the report by clicking here and the full report by clicking here.

 

Crucial conversation luncheons coming soon – register today

September 13, 2012 at 9:17 amCategory:Uncategorized

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There’s still time to RSVP for two upcoming Crucial Conversation luncheons — don’t miss the chance to hear from a pair of extremely knowledgeable speakers on two very important subjects.

 Event # 1 – Business incentives: Where they work and where they don’t

Join us as Prof. Bill Lester of the Department of City and Regional Planning at UNC Chapel Hill unveils an important new study entitled “Mediating Incentives.” According to Lester, there are circumstances in which incentives can work – if we’re smart about where, when and how we pursue them.

When: Thursday September 20 – Box lunches will be available at 11:45 a.m. and the program will start at 12:00 noon

Click here to register for this event and get more information.

Event # 2 -  A talk by Kim Bobo, Founder and Director of the national advocacy organization, Interfaith Worker Justice: How wage theft is undermining the rights of working people  Read More…

RSVP today for upcoming Crucial Conversation lunches

September 10, 2012 at 7:47 amCategory:Uncategorized

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No single issue is more “front and center” in the modern political debate than the state of our economy. Among other things, North Carolinians want to know:

What, if anything, can policymakers do to stimulate growth and create jobs?

How can we assure that the price of economic growth does not involve worker exploitation?

To help address these critical questions, NC Policy Watch will hold a pair of special Crucial Conversation luncheons on back-to-back Thursdays in the month of September. Please RSVP and spread the word about these important events: Read More…

The big profits of low wage employers

August 29, 2012 at 2:52 pmCategory:Uncategorized

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In anticipation of Big Business Day, er uh,  Labor Day, the good people at the National Employment Law Project are out with a new report that shines some welcome light on a much undereported subject in modern America: the huge and growing profits of low wage employers.

This is from the release that acccompanied the report:

“America’s low-wage economy is marked by two extremes.  On the one hand, workers earning at or near the minimum wage are seeing the real value of their paychecks diminish steadily over time, as the cost of living increases while their wages remain stagnant.  After nearly half a century of neglect, today’s federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour is decades out of date.  In terms of purchasing power, its value is 30 percent lower today than it was in 1968.

On the other hand, many corporations are posting record-breaking profits. Read More…